


like that sun

by energyboyeric



Category: Day6 (Band), Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Bang Chan & Lee Felix are Related, Equestrian, Han Jisung | Han & Kang Younghyun | Young K are Siblings, Horseback Riding, Horses, M/M, Slow Burn, Summer Romance, Summer Vacation, bc aussie bros, chan is a farmhand kind of, city boy meets country boy you know the drill, day6 are a garage band that play for funsies, felix makes more pop culture references than peter parker and thats impressive, i am not sure what his title is, its adorable, minho is a cat dad, seungjin centric, seungmin and jisung ride horses, seungmin teaches hyunjin, theyre just everybodys older bros, younghyun is so depressingly gone for jae that its funny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27220858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/energyboyeric/pseuds/energyboyeric
Summary: Hyunjin is sent to his aunt's house in the countryside to for the summer, because his parents think he needs a "change of scenery". He expects the coming months to be uneventful, boring even, but he soon finds that he was sorely mistaken.What ensues happens to be the best summer of his life.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin, Kang Younghyun | Young K/Park Jaehyung | Jae, Lee Felix/Seo Changbin
Comments: 21
Kudos: 61





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> heyheyhey this is an old unfinished work i decided to pick up again bc why not. it used to be on wattpad but wattpad *sucks ass* so here i am :)) also i dont beta read we die like men

Hyunjin’s eyes are heavy, threatening to close as he watches the scenery flicker by outside the window- not that there’s too much to look at. Fields, gently sloping hills, the occasional cluster of trees, little herds of livestock roaming wide pastures; he doesn’t mind that it’s not much, rather likes the simplicity, actually. The sky is a clear blue, dotted with wispy clouds and showing just a tinge of orange as the afternoon turns to evening. 

The only other person sitting near him is an old woman, fast asleep despite the noise of the train, knitting project abandoned in her lap. It’s a peace unlike anything he’s known for a long time. He’s tempted to pull out his phone and take a picture of the stunning visuals outside, but somehow he thinks he’ll ruin it if he does.

The soft whir of the wheels churning beneath his feet is enough to keep him awake, though the fast, nervous pace of his thoughts is enough to keep him up too. 

He isn’t really  _ not  _ looking forward to the rest of the summer- he loves his aunt, used to love coming out here all the time- but it’s the prospect of living out here for so  _ long  _ that scares him. He’s far, far away from the rest of his friends, from anything familiar at all, and Hyunjin isn’t the most  _ social  _ butterfly or anything, though he’s not like, a hermit caterpillar either, but he’s- he’s a little shy. So it makes him anxious, the idea of meeting new people, having to make new friends in a new place (“ _ There’ll be other boys your age,” his parents had reassured him, “don’t worry _ ). 

He tears his eyes away from the view outside and checks the time briefly- it’s six, so he’s almost arrived- and begins to double check his things, pulling his bag out from under his seat as he prepares for his stop. So he almost misses it, when something appears outside his window, interrupting the continuity of the serene horizon. 

His eyes widen when he spots him at first, his mouth falling open in a sort of awed surprise- there’s a  _ boy  _ out there, riding a horse, keeping steady pace with the speed of the train. 

Silhouetted magnificently by the slowly setting sun, golden rays of light catching in his horse’s honey-colored mane, Hyunjin can’t describe him as looking anything other than  _ free.  _ The pair seem to move fluidly, as one, as they race the train, the horse’s ears perked forwards, the corners of the boy’s mouth turned up in the smallest of smiles. 

The boy turns his head, and all of a sudden he meets Hyunjin’s eyes, and Hyunjin realizes all too late he’s been caught staring, (but who  _ wouldn’t  _ stare), though he doesn’t seem to mind at all- the boy’s grin seems to widen just a little when he catches sight of Hyunjin through the window. And Hyunjin is too stunned to move, maybe wave? ( _ No, that’d be weird, you creep _ ).

And then with some unspoken communication between boy and horse, the pair peel off, and Hyunjin is left with nothing but the oddly warm memory of his grin before he’s swallowed up by the horizon.

The train station is small, only a few people standing about or occasionally coming in and out. He blinks, clutching the handles of his duffel bag tightly as he searches for a familiar face, because they  _ should  _ be here, they _ said  _ they’d be on time to pick him up. There aren’t really too many people, this is a pretty small town after all, but the train ride was five hours long and he’s sleepy and hungry and can’t really seem to concentrate on anything besides a smile made of sunshine burned into the backs of his eyelids, and-

“ _ Hyunjin! _ ”  _ That.  _ That is his name, but where’s it coming from? And the voice doesn’t really sound like his aunt at all, it sounds young, but okay- “ _ Hwang Hyunjin? _ ” He finally catches sight of a boy, jumping up and down and waving his arms frantically- Hyunjin would think it was sort of endearing, if it weren’t for the fact that  _ he is most definitely not my aunt but he knows my name?  _ But after a moment’s hesitation he walks over to him anyways, and is rather relieved when he stops shouting and yelling his name.

“Uh- who are y-”

“You’re Hyunjin, right?” The boy cuts him off, eyeing him suspiciously for a moment.

“Um- yeah? I-I’m Hyunjin, but who are-”

“Han Jisung,” he says, a bright smile now plastered on his face, sticking his hand out for Hyunjin to shake. He does, confused and taken aback but mostly confused. “I’m here because your aunt couldn’t make it, some farm stuff to tend to, I dunno, something about a loose animal? Serious stuff.” Hyunjin, now vaguely concerned about this loose animal, doesn’t really know how to respond, but Jisung doesn’t really wait for him to anyways.

“So anyways, me and my brother are here to pick you up and we’ll drive you home- my brother’s name is Younghyun- we live a couple houses down the road from you, actually, so maybe I’ll see you again after this. I think you and him will get along, you kinda remind me of him. . .” Hyunjin begins to lose focus on Jisung’s rambling after a while, even though he’s decided that he’d probably die for the boy in a heartbeat (he’s  _ adorable,  _ okay), and instead on his surroundings. 

They’re outside now, shoes crunching on the gravel of a worn-looking, small parking lot; the evening has progressed further now, streaks of pink and orange running like rivers through the sky. He wonders if the boy he’d seen earlier lived close to his grandparent’s house- if he’d ever see him again. The breeze has lost some of its daytime warmth in exchange for the cooler bite of a summer night, and he’s glad he wore a hoodie.

They eventually stop at an old, dusty pickup truck, the paint job faded and scratched- Hyunjin wonders if it was once bright red, though now it’s pale, worn away from years of work in the sun. There’s a logo drawn roughly in the corner of the back windshield, something that looks like a stylized six made to look like a target, with the word  _ DAY6  _ scrawled beneath it. 

He passes his bag to Jisung, who throws it into the bed of the truck, and then gestures for him to get into the backseat; suddenly, he’s apprehensive, a little mistrustful of Jisung and his brother. Somebody pokes their head out of the driver’s seat window, craning their head around to look at Hyunjin and Jisung. A boy, at least a few years older than Hyunjin, looks between him and Jisung skeptically, and he can immediately see the resemblance between the two, though this boy has more sharp edges and angles compared to Jisung’s softness.

“Sung, what’s taking so long? I have practice tonight, you know Sungjin’ll kick my ass if I’m late  _ again _ .” Hyunjin assumes this is Younghyun, Jisung’s older brother. “Oh, and clarification-  _ you’re  _ not a loser, Hyunjin, just Jisung. Don’t worry.” Jisung looks offended, clutching a hand to his chest in exaggerated pain.

“ _ I’m  _ the loser here? And that’s coming from somebody who writes love songs for his own  _ bandma _ -” 

“ _ Hey! _ ” 

“-and he doesn’t even  _ know  _ that they’re about-”

“Ji _ sung! _ ”

“I’m not  _ wrong. _ ”

“You’re. . .” Younghyun’s playful snarl dissipates into something more somber, “no, I guess you’re not.” 

Hyunjin is confused. The silence hovers in the air for a moment, heavy with something that seems to drag Younghyun’s shoulders down into a slump. 

Hyunjin is confused, yes, but he feels oddly safe with these people; he pulls open the door and hops into the truck, onto squashy seats covered in worn, cracked leather paled with dust. There’s something that makes everything about Jisung and Younghyun feel familiar, as if they’re not total strangers to him- it’s oddly comforting, he thinks, as Jisung beams at him and goes on about the best things to do or the coolest places to go- and so after his moment of hesitation, he lets himself relax.

The mood lightens significantly once Younghyun pulls out of the lot, wheels kicking up dust that seems to shimmer in the last rays of sunlight. Curious about the exchange about Younghyun’s love life, even though it’s not really his business ( _ tea, sis _ ) he’s not really sure what to say. The two brothers fall into easy banter again, and Hyunjin is content to listen.

Again, he watches the scenery pass by as the truck snakes its way down long, winding roads, because it’s much easier to focus on the cows and sheep grazing in grassy meadows than to think about the inevitable arrival at his grandparent’s house. He doesn’t mind spending the summer here, he really doesn’t, but the problem is that he also misses home. 

More specifically, he misses his best friends, their loudness and laughter and  _ comfort _ \- they knew him inside and out, they didn’t expect anything of him besides himself. He didn’t want to meet new people, have to open himself up to them little by little, page by page, hoping he doesn’t get torn in half by the end of the summer. Because that’s what Hyunjin is- fragile, thin as paper, easily creased and ripped, easily  _ hurt.  _

He can’t help it. 

Hyunjin loves much too easily, and so he burns easily.

Just like paper.

But he shakes that thought out of his head, coming back to the present just as the truck pulls into a long driveway, one that he recognizes, and comes to a stop. The sun has just vanished behind the trees lining the horizon, last tendrils of light slipping through the branches.

“This is your stop, Hyunjin. You want us to walk you up?” Younghyun turns around in the driver's seat, and Hyunjin feels a little bad for zoning out for most of the ride- he’s nice, Jisung’s nice, they could be  _ friends- _

“I will! She loves me,” Jisung cuts in, “you aunt, I mean. She used to babysit me and Younghyun when we were little- wow, I’m surprised we haven’t met before, actually. You’ve come here before, right?”

“Sung, do you ever  _ shut up- _ ”

“Be quiet,  _ Brian _ -”

“A few times, yeah.” Hyunjin’s voice is quieter than the other two, even though he’s inwardly amused by the banter. Again, he doesn’t really know what to say, how to join the conversation- he doesn’t know either of them well enough yet.

_ Yet. _

Maybe he will make some friends, after all. 

“Well, I know you now! But honestly you look kinda tired,” Jisung says, softening his voice a little, cocking his head to the side (a bit like a puppy- a squirrel, maybe?) as he observes Hyunjin. “We’re so obnoxious, I’m so sorry- c’mon man, I’ll bring you up- they’ll want to know we made it home alive too, probably.”

Hyunjin smiles at him. “Thanks,” he says, getting out of the truck just as Jisung does, and catching his bag when the other boy tosses it to him. “And thanks for the ride,” he says to Younghyun as he passes, though the older boy has his phone halfway to his ear as if he’s just gotten a call. 

As they walk up the driveway, Hyunjin sees Jisung roll his eyes as he passes his brother. “It’s probably Jae,” he says without further explanation. 

The front door opens as they walk up the stairs, revealing the familiar face of his aunt. She’s young, younger than his mother, maybe even around Younghyun’s age. She smiles when she sees him, and maybe smiles even wider when she sees Jisung next to him, but one thing he’s already noticed is that it’s hard not to smile when Jisung’s smiling, which he’s  _ sure  _ he’s doing now. He just has some genuine quality to him, like he’s got a bit of sunshine itself in his soul or something. 

“Hyunjinnie! Oh, come here,” she says, pulling him into a tight hug that makes him drop his bag on the deck; she feels warm, her perfume smells like home- he feels a little better, being with somebody he knows. “How have you and your family been? It’s been so long,” she exclaims, pinching his cheek.

“We’ve been fine,” he says, unable to hold back his smile at all. She turns to Jisung.

“And Jisung? How have you been, it’s been a while since the last time we saw you as well?” Jisung beams at her.

“We’re great! Hyunnie’s in his truck talking to a  _ friend _ ,” Jisung says, and Hyunjin doesn’t miss the emphasis he puts on the last word- honestly, Hyunjin is so invested in Younghyun’s love life and it’s been like  _ one hour-  _ and his aunt nods conspiratorially, understanding.

Once more, Hyunjin is confused. 

“You’ll have to come over for dinner sometime soon, Hyunjin’ll need some friends his age, I’m  _ much _ too boring. Get back to your brother, it’s getting late.” She smiles at Jisung again, and with a wave he’s running back down to meet Younghyun in the truck. 

_ Hyunjin’ll need some friends his age. _

She’s not wrong.

But he’s still a little scared; he’s not too good at making friends, he thinks. Somehow though, making friends with Jisung doesn’t seem so intimidating.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hhg i was working on a the boyz halloween fic but despite my best efforts i am probably not going to get thaT out anytime soon because it's way longer than i anticipated so,, whoops,, i also need to work on my otHeR tbz gang au which is so fuCKING plot heavy that it takes forever but quality over quantity am i right ? BUT the good news is i have ch 2 of THIS fic squirreled away in my google drive for times such as these hehehehhehe

“I hope you don’t mind having something so simple tonight, I was in a big rush earlier.” His aunt sets down a bowl of noodles in front of him, and of anything, Hyunjin is relieved; he’d rather it not be a big deal, his arrival. He smiles at her, shaking his head.

“It’s no problem at all, Auntie.” And it really isn’t. She sits down across the table from him, and he notices that the dining room table isn’t really made for two people, but four or five. A whole family. A pang of grief, sympathy maybe, runs through him for his aunt- she lives here all alone most of the year, and this house is just a bit too large to be alone in, he thinks. 

It’s nice, a typical farmhouse, with old hardwood floors and a big brick fireplace in the living room, lived-in, squashy armchairs and outdated lamps that cast a warm glow tucked into corners. There’s paintings on the walls, sweeping landscapes of the view from outside, of tiny horses grazing in sunlit meadows under blue skies, and a portrait of the very house he’s sitting in now. There are photographs too, some with his mother and his aunt as children, some with his grandparents and other relatives, and some people he doesn’t know- some faded, some black and white. He recognizes Younghyun in one of them, actually, though much younger, with a bright smile on his face- maybe he’ll ask about that one later.

It’s not fancy, it’s not over the top, it’s not sleek or modern or shiny like the oversized apartment he and his parents live in. It’s comfortable and warm, and Hyunjin adores it.

“I’d give you a tour, but,” she grimaces, “it’s already dark out. Tomorrow?”

“Yeah, tomorrow.” Hyunjin picks at his noodles, a little unsure of what to say. “The guys that picked me up at the station. . . they said there was a loose animal, or something like that.” 

“Oh  _ sorry about that,  _ it’s just that usually Chan’s over to help me take care of the animals, but he’s out of town today, and Callie  _ always  _ manages to open the chicken coop when somebody’s not watching her-”

“It’s okay, Jisung and Younghyun were really nice. Also, who’s Chan? And Callie?” His aunt seems relieved that he’s not upset or annoyed, some tension loosening in her shoulders.

“Chan works part time as a farmhand, helps me a lot since I’m alone out here. I’ve known him for a long time- we went to school together when we were kids. And Callie is my dog.” Hyunjin perks up at the mention of a dog, he’s always wanted one but his parents have never let him get one.

“You have a dog?” He asks, excited.

“Yeah! I wasn’t sure whether you liked dogs or not, so I let her out back for a bit while you settled in. Do you- do you want me to go get her?” Hyunjin nods eagerly.

“ _ Yes. _ ” She pushes her chair out and rounds a corner; Hyunjin hears the click of a doorknob, and then the skitter of claws on the floor, and then-

“ _ Oh my God _ .” The being before him is perhaps the most beautiful thing he has ever seen in his  _ life.  _ A dog, about as tall as his knees maybe, hops up and down in front of him, tail wagging furiously, dark, intelligent eyes shining up at him, little pointy ears perked up; her fur is fluffy and a deep, rusty orange that catches the light and makes her seem as if she’s on fire, in a cute way. Hyunjin leaps from his chair, noodles forgotten, to give her some good hello pats.

It’s love at first sight.

“Auntie, I’m stealing her,” he tells her very seriously, “when I go home I’m hiding her in my bag and  _ stealing her.  _ She’s mine now.” His aunt laughs.

“Take her,  _ please.  _ She’s too high maintenance for me.” Hyunjin doesn’t think this little ball of fluff and sunshine and happiness could  _ ever  _ be too high maintenance. At this point, he would probably die for Callie. He thanks her, silently, for making sure his aunt isn’t  _ all  _ alone. “She’s smart, and she helps us herd the sheep sometimes, when she’s not too busy getting herself trapped in a hole or something.”

“Ah,” Hyunjin nods in understanding as he scratches the dog’s ears, “the smart but dumb type.” (the  _ best _ kind of dog). 

“Yup.”

Hyunjin likes his aunt, he very quickly realizes, a lot more than he was expecting himself to. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t seen her in so long due to his and his family’s busy schedules, but she’s a lot nicer, a lot more humorous and easygoing, than his own parents. Vaguely, he wonders if something happened between her and his mother to drive her so far away from the rest of them- but what could be so terrible to drive two sisters apart like that? She’s much younger than he remembers too, mid-twenties maybe. Not  _ that  _ much older than him. So she’s like a  _ cool  _ aunt.

After dinner, Hyunjin helps her wash the dishes, and then she shows him to his room. He immediately likes it- it’s small, with a window overlooking the property, and a comfy looking bed with a soft duvet fluffily arranged over it. There’s a wooden dresser and a matching wooden nightstand, and the same, warmly lit type of lamp that the rest of the house has.

“Guess I’ll leave you to it, then- you can put all your things away and stuff. If you need anything, I’ll be out in the living room.” His aunt smiles at him again, and then exits the room, leaving him to his own devices for the first time since he arrived. 

Instead of unpacking right away, he flings himself onto the bed and takes out his phone, scrolling through the several missed text messages from his parents asking if he’s arrived okay; after the warm welcome from his aunt, and the surprising comfort he found in her home, he had momentarily forgotten the little, sad weight in the pit of his stomach. It’s a strange feeling, one that contradicts itself in a way, because it’s about one half eagerness and one half sorrow. He  _ is  _ excited, in a way, for the summer here, but that excitement is overshadowed by a larger, darker anxiety.

He shrugs it off, and after reassuring his parents that he is indeed alive, he rolls back off of the bed and starts to unpack, instead forcing his mind to focus on simpler things, like the picture frames he can’t help but notices as he puts his shirts into the dresser. One is a younger version of his aunt sitting atop a beautiful, dappled grey pony, and the person holding the reins is a younger version of his mother. There’s a date scribbled in the corner in messy pen:  _ 7-14-1989.  _ A little over a decade before he was born. 

The pony catches his attention, the way his aunt, no older than four or five, sits so confidently atop it. Does she still have horses? He wouldn’t mind seeing a horse. Maybe it’s just like a really big dog, and everybody knows that Hyunjin likes dogs. Maybe he could even learn how to ride one. 

He finishes putting his things away, unsure of what else to do, and feeling especially tired, decides to go to bed. The duvet is soft, and as soon as his head hits the pillow he starts to feel sleepy.

He doesn’t really know what to expect this summer, good or bad, maybe neither, maybe both. But he supposes that can wait for tomorrow.

* * *

Apparently  _ not.  _

He wakes up to darkness, and a soft knocking on the door; he checks the clock next to his bed, the little green-lit numbers reading  _ 11:45.  _ In other words, _ late.  _ But the knocking is insistent, and Hyunjin doesn’t want his aunt to be woken up, so begrudgingly he rolls out of bed. He slips a hoodie on and pads as quietly as he can through the dark house. 

The soft clack of claws on the floor tells him that Callie’s awake too; he catches sight of her as he passes by the kitchen, pale moonlight igniting her fluffed-up fur. She looks almost disgruntled, like she’s annoyed by the noise too. 

He can hear his aunt’s quiet snores drifting down the hall, and he’s relieved that she’s still asleep.  _ Who  _ would be knocking at this hour, honestly? And wait, why is he opening the door for them? It’s not really his place, this isn’t  _ his  _ house, for all he knows it could be a serial killer or a kidnapper or something, but he highly doubts it in a small town like this. 

The window by the front door is open just a bit, letting the cool breeze into the house; Hyunjin can hear the quiet chirp of crickets filter through, giving the night an even more peaceful air. It’s so different, he thinks, from the constant thrum of the city, the rumble of cars and the buzz of never ending  _ life,  _ the aggressive energy that he’s so used to being submerged in. This place, though, this little farm in a town in the middle of nowhere, it’s alive in a different way. It’s soft, green, natural, much gentler and more tranquil than his own brick and concrete home. 

He approaches the door cautiously, as the knocks become more irregular and unsure; there’s a mail slot, rusted and old- the flap probably doesn’t even work anymore. Curious to see whether he could spot the cause of the noise without opening the door, he kneels down, feeling Callie’s soft fur brush against his shoulder as he does.

The flap flips open, and Hyunjin falls backwards because there’s  _ another pair of eyes staring at him,  _ so close that if there wasn’t a door between them their noses would probably be touching. 

“ _ Hey Auntie, _ ” the person who they eyes belong to, presumably, whispers, “ _ can you open up? It’s important. _ ” He’s not his aunt, but hey, this person knows her at least, so they’re not gonna kill him or anything. Plus, it sounds urgent, so he reaches up and opens the door, dusting himself off, though he’s still shaking from the surprise.

The dim porch light barely illuminates the three people standing in front of him.

“You’re not Auntie,” the one farthest back pipes up- he has some sort of accent, Hyunjin immediately notices- and has to stand on his toes to see over the other boy’s shoulders.

“No, he’s the new guy, remember?” The one in front , the one who’d been looking through the mail slot, snaps over his shoulder, “the summer boy?” They seem to disregard his presence as they argue in hushed shouts for a moment.

“Nobody told me about a new  _ summer boy- _ ”

“Lix, that’s ‘cause you  _ are  _ a summer boy-”

“The one Sungie was talking about earlier?”

“How many do you think there  _ are? _ ”

“ _ Shut up you fucking idiots, _ ” the front one, the tallest, hisses, returning his gaze back to Hyunjin. “Listen, summer boy-”

“M-my name’s Hyunjin.” He surprises himself with the interjection. The tall one blinks his wide eyes once at him before launching back into his passionate speech.

“Okay, Hyunjin, is Auntie home?”

“ _ My aunt? _ ” he asks, incredulous.

“No, mine,” he rolls his eyes, placing a hand on his hip, “yes, yours. We need her.”

“At midnight?” Hyunjin raises a skeptical eyebrow.

“ _ Is she home? _ ” he presses on.

“ _ Why? _ ” Hyunjin retorts. Another boy, shorter with a kind of growly voice, steps up, looking a little annoyed, or maybe that’s just his face.

“Because  _ this dumbass _ ,” he gestures sharply to the tall one, “accidentally left his window open and his cats got out.”

“All three!” The third boy supplies helpfully from the back, his voice laced with some kind of accent that Hyunjin can’t quite place. The tall one, the one with the lost cats, apparently, buries his face in his hands, looking back up at Hyunjin pathetically.

“They’re my babies,” he says weakly. “Auntie’s good at finding them.”

“This happens a lot,” the annoyed one explains exasperatedly. Hyunjin is confused, half-asleep, overwhelmed, but most importantly  _ hellbent  _ on not waking his aunt up. And so he says something he’ll probably regret later.

‘I’ll help you, how’s that?” 

They stare at him, uncomprehending, for a moment before answering.

“Sure,” Annoyed Boy says.

“ _ Anything for my kids _ ,” Tall Sassy Boy whispers dramatically.

“Yeet!” Accent Boy exclaims.

* * *

Hyunjin meets them outside after slipping on his shoes, mostly just hoping that his aunt doesn’t wake up and find him gone. 

“I uh, never never caught your names,” he half mumbles as he follows them down the stairs off of the porch, shutting the door of the house gently behind him. He’s a little astounded by the clarity of the night outside, the cool freshness of the air and the shimmering mosaic of thousands upon thousands of stars laid out in the sky above him- he’s never seen anything quite like it before. 

“I’m Changbin,” the disgruntled one mumbles.

“Felix!” The accented one chirps.

“And I’m Minho,” the salty, stressed father of three says. Felix sidles up to him and hands him a flashlight, flicking it on and off a few times as if to prove to him it works before smiling brightly. Their voices seem so small, swallowed up by the nighttime itself somehow; Hyunjin can clearly hear their footsteps, the quiet crunch of dry grass and dirt as they trek onwards. 

“They won’t have gone far,” Minho says, “but they’re good at hiding. Probably somewhere in the woods behind my house- I live really close to you, Hyunjin, so we won’t have to go too far. My poor babies…” he trails off, muttering to himself. The worry is apparent in Minho’s voice.

“We’ll find them, Minnie, don’t worry.” Changbin pats the other boy’s shoulder gently- maybe he isn’t as angry as Hyunjin initially thought. He falls behind awkwardly, having no place in this conversation; the cool breezes bites at his skin through the fabric of his hoodie.

“So you know Jisung?” Felix suddenly asks, easily falling into step with him. 

“Not really,” Hyunjin says, looking at the ground, “he picked me up at the station and stuff, but we didn’t get much of a chance to talk. He seems nice. Are you guys friends?”

“Yeah, we have been since we were little. I only spend my summers here- I’m from Australia, but my grandparents live just down the street so we stay there.” That explains Felix’s accent, at least. “I’m sure you guys’ll be good friends, Sung’s really friendly.” 

“Okay,” Hyunjin says uncertainly. It’s almost strange, how nice everybody is, how oddly safe he feels with these boys he’s just met. He decides to be wary of it.

“You’ll like the rest of our friends too- Jeongin’s adorable, you can’t  _ not  _ like him, and Chan’s, well, he’s  _ Chan _ \- he’s my cousin, by the way- he’ll adopt you as soon as he sees you, and Seungmin’s- actually, I think you’d hit it off really well with him.” Hyunjin’s curious, even though he has no idea who Felix is talking about. 

“Why?” He asks, because he’s only  _ known  _ Felix for all of five minutes now. 

“I dunno. You're both kind of reserved? Quiet, at first, but I can tell there’s a whole lot more of you than you’re letting on. Seungmin’s like that.” Hyunjin nods slowly, wondering how Felix managed to figure him out so fast, a little scared by it. But as Hyunjin takes a sideways glance at Felix, he also realizes he can’t be afraid of him for long; he’s nothing if not innocent, with the stars reflected in his eyes and mirrored in the freckles scattered across his tanned skin, with the way he smiles sunnily at Hyunjin so easily.

The four boys slow to a stop in front of a large patch of trees, branches reaching up with willowy grace into the night sky; the only sound is the soft rustle of the leaves in the wind. Hyunjin stares at the vast expanse, at how the trunks of the trees slowly fade into shadow the farther into the woods they go, at the deep void they seem to create before his eyes. Changbin lifts his flashlight, shining it into the trees pointlessly.

“So. . . do we split up?” He asks, still waving the flashlight around.

“That’s how people die in horror movies, Bin.” Minho says.

“But this isn’t a horror movie,” Felix says, “r-right?” Changbin pulls Felix to his side and ruffles his hair reassuringly.

“Course not, Lixie,” he says softly, while shooting Minho a glare over the top of the younger’s head that clearly says  _ you’re scaring the kids, idiot.  _ Hyunjin looks on, out of place. Minho paces back and forth, evidently stressed; if this is what having children is like, Hyunjin wants no part of it.

“Lix, why don’t you go with Binnie, because you’re so scared,” he says, “and Hyunjin, do you mind coming with me? I promise it won’t take too long,” and Minho looks genuinely sorry for dragging Hyunjin out onto this midnight cat hunt, and when he really thinks about it this is maybe the most excitement he’s had in months, so he nods his head and shoots Minho a reassuring grin. 

Felix and Changbin head off with Felix’s hand held tightly in Changbin’s, flashlights on their highest settings; Hyunjin and Minho stand together awkwardly before starting off in another direction, twigs and dead leaves crackling under their feet as they walk. It strikes Hyunjin how outlandish his whole situation is, that he hasn’t even been here for a full  _ day  _ and he’s already snuck out of the house in the middle of the night to help some strangers find some cats.

Later, he realizes that it could have gone in a much worse direction, and subsequently realizes how stupid he really is. But he thinks that it was probably a blessing, meeting them like this- maybe otherwise, things wouldn’t have turned out the way they did. 

“Their names are Soonie, Doongie, and Dori,” Minho informs them, “Oh  _ God,  _ I’m so careless, what kind of father am I?  _ What kind of father, Hyunjin? _ ” Hyunjin is taken aback, slightly amused but also concerned.

“Uh. . . a good one?” He’s sure Minho rolls his eyes, but he can’t see it in the dark. “We all make mistakes, I guess.” His shyness, his apprehension, has slowly been fading away the longer he spends with these boys, mostly because of the way they don’t seem to regard him as unfamiliar at all; they’ve accepted him, pulled him into their circle so quickly he couldn’t have escaped if he wanted to. Osmosized him, if you will, or that thing that amoebas do when they absorb their prey. It seems like it was kind of . . .inevitable. He should be scared, but for some reason, he isn’t.

“Poor little Dori, she’s just a kitten, a  _ baby,  _ what if an owl snatches her up, or- a  _ coyote,  _ oh my God,” Minho rambles on. “And it’ll be all my fault, I’m so terrible,  _ oh no _ -” Hyunjin shushes him sharply, half to shut him up and half because he thinks he’s heard something. They wait, stiff and still, surrounded by the foggy darkness of the forest; Hyunjin moves his flashlight around, training the beam on the ground. 

Then he hears it again- a soft mewling, coming from somewhere to his left; he beckons to Minho with his hand and slowly creeps toward the brush, a tangle of leaves and brambles almost too thick to see through. Carefully, with one hand still holding the flashlight steady, he moves the leaves, searching for the source of the sound. 

When he finally does uncover it, and catches sight of what lies beneath, he freezes; Minho takes in a sharp breath behind him.

“ _ Holy shit _ ,” he whispers weakly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's october it is haLLOWEEN and the god forsaken skies decided to dump haLF A FOOT OF F U C K I N G SNOW ON US I HATE IT HERE and guess what oh ho ho get this ,, next week it is going to be seventy degrees, yes you heard me SEVENTY like SUMMER when right now as i speak it is several degrees below freezing outside i,, i cannot win,, help me,, 
> 
> anyways i hope you liked this chapter hfgchvcghfvfh i need sleep bye


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a ripoff of a chapter because i was supposed to tack this onto the end of the last one but i forgot. so whoopsie sorry :")

Minho drops to his knees, bottom lip held tightly between his teeth, momentarily forgetting that Hyunjin’s there. He can hear him mumbling quietly to himself, the quiver in his voice apparent. 

“ _ Oh shit, oh fuck, oh shit, _ ” and Hyunjin doesn’t really know what do to besides stare for a moment, shocked. There’s a cat- one of Minho’s obviously- lying under the bush, curled up into a little ball, shuddering; it’s fur is silver grey, striped, but clotted in some places with deep red blood. In the dim light of his flashlight, Hyunjin can see a thin wire wrapped around its leg, trapping it into place. 

It looks so small, so  _ weak,  _ and so does Minho as he reaches out tenderly for it, and even though the older boy is obviously terrified he can still see a fierce, loving determination in the way he pushes through it. 

When he turns to Hyunjin, there’s pure desperation in his eyes. “We need to find the others, like,  _ fast,  _ a-and then we need to go to Jisung’s right away, and then-”

“Wait, why do we need to go to Jisung’s?”

“‘Cause his family owns a vet clinic, they’re closed but they’ll let us in anyways, and-“ he’s cut off by a particularly loud mewl from the injured kitten, “-and I’m scared, man _! _ ” and then there’s the harsh crackle of two people stumbling out of the brush and Changbin and Felix are back, frozen under the beam of the flashlight as they take in the scene before them. 

“Oh,” Felix says, mouth falling open.

“Oh  _ no, _ ” Changbin whispers. 

Chaos ensues.

“What are we gonna  _ do _ -”

“Minho, are you shaking?”

“No _! _ ”

“Oh my God, I can’t look at the blood-”

“Does anybody have their phone?”

“Why?”

“Can somebody  _ please _ Jisung!”

“Why the fuck would I call Sungjin?”

“ _ I said call Han Jisung, you fool- _ ”

“Jisung’s  _ sleeping  _ though-”

“ _ Call him anyways! This is a god damn emergency! _ ”

“Should I just call Younghyun? He’s probably on the night shift anyways-”

“ _ Did I say you should call Younghyun? _ ”

“He’s an adult!”

“Oh,  _ barely-“ _

Everybody’s voice escalates in pitch as the panic overcomes them all, and Felix is pacing frantically in circles and Minho is still kneeling in front of his cat and Changbin is shaking his head and wringing his hands and Hyunjin is just standing there, watching.

“Hey,” Hyunjin starts, voice quiet, “uh,  _ guys! _ ” The shout startles everybody, even him, into momentary silence. “I-I think you’re scaring it,” he says, pointing to the way the little ball of fluff is recoiling, ears pinned at all the noise, “and, and we’re not- uh, accomplishing anything right now, so uh, what if I call Jisung, and then Felix and Changbin go find the other cats, and then Minho stays with this one?” they stare at him for a moment.

“Hyunjin, you’re so  _ sane, _ ” Felix says, awe in his voice. Minho and Changbin nod along, Minho barely holding back tears at this point. They disappear off into the woods again, darkness quickly swallowing them up as they call out the names of the still-missing felines, and Hyunjin opens his messages with his aunt where he knows he’ll find a list of helpful numbers she’d sent him earlier that day ( _ thank God for his aunt _ ). 

He skims through the list until he finds  _ The Hans,  _ asks Minho if it’s the right number, and we he confirms quickly dials it. He can still hear Felix and Changbin crashing around, more urgent this time; Minho’s softly stroking the tiny cat’s fur, maybe in an attempt to calm it down so it doesn’t thrash around and hurt itself even more on the wire bound tightly around its leg. 

It rings for a few seconds, just enough time for Hyunjin to take in this entire situation and wonder how the  _ fuck  _ he’s going to explain it all to his aunt in the morning, when somebody picks up. 

“ _ H-hello? _ ” A yawn, “ _ this is Yellow Wood County Animal Hospital, what can, _ ” another yawn, “ _ what can I help you with?” _ The voice belongs to, he  _ thinks _ , Jisung- it’s too high pitched to be Younghyun or anybody else, at least. 

“Jisung? It’s uh, Hwang Hyunjin, from earlier?” There’s a noise of confusion on the other end of the line, but it’s dark out and Minho is panicking and so is Hyunjin so he presses on, “I’m out in the woods right now with a couple other guys and Minho lost his cats and we can’t find them all and one of them is injured and we don’t know what to do so they told me to call you?” 

Silence. 

“ _ Did I hear you say Minho? Why are you in the woods with Minho? Slow down, man. _ ” Suspicion sharpens Jisung’s voice.

“Minho, a-and Felix and Changbin? I think they know you, but there’s a  _ hurt cat _ and it’s stuck in a wire thing and it’s like  _ really hurt- _ “ 

“ _ Are you guys okay? _ ” Jisung cuts him off again.

“Yeah, yeah everybody’s okay except for the  _ cat _ ,” Hyunjin says, shrugging panickedly in Minho’s direction when he mouths  _ what’s going on  _ at him. 

“ _ One of Minho’s cats is hurt? _ ” 

“ _ Yes! _ ”

“ _ Oh shit _ ,” Jisung mumbles, “ _ Hold on, give me details. _ ” There’s a shuffle, the sound of Jisung looking for pen and paper. “ _ Okay, go. Do you know where you are? _ ”

“Um, not too far away from my aunt’s place, just down the path and through the woods- right behind Minho’s house I think?”

“ _ How deep in are you? _ ”

“Not that far, I can still see the road and stuff.” 

“ _ Do you think you can safely remove the animal from the place it’s trapped? _ ” Hyunjin glances over at Minho, who’s fiddling with the wire while trying his best to keep his precious charge calm. 

“I-I don’t wanna hurt her,” he says to him shakily. 

“I don’t think so,” Hyunjin tells Jisung through the phone.

“ _ Okay, okay, that’s fine, here- I’m gonna wake Younghyun up, he’ll drive down with some wire cutters or something. Hold tight, yeah? _ ”

Help arrives in the form of the same, dusty red pickup truck that had brought Hyunjin here earlier, headlights glaring harshly into the trees as it pulls up beside the woods. Hyunjin, Minho, and the others watch as Younghyun quickly makes his way to them, wielding another flashlight and a pair of wire cutters and saying something like “ _ I can’t believe I spent my entire life’s savings on going to vet school just so I can save Lee Minho’s goddamn cats, _ ” and the whole ordeal is really pretty simple after he reassures all four boys that the kitten will be fine, and he’ll help them find the rest in the morning, and they should all go to bed because God knows  _ Younghyun _ won’t be sleeping tonight. 

And so the night’s adventure ends rather abruptly after the dark turn it had taken, with four, unfortunately cat-less boys and a whole lot of tired silence hanging between them all. Minho treks back to his own house dejectedly, leaving Felix and Changbin to walk Hyunjin home (it’s on their way anyways). Hyunjin is oddly exhilarated, even after the panic, with the night breeze ruffling his hair and the nearly stale adrenaline from the events of earlier still coursing through his blood. 

The lights are still off at his aunt’s house, the door still firmly closed from where he’d left it almost an hour before; besides the quiet nickers of some animals in the barn next to the house, nothing disturbs the silence of the night. 

“Can you guys get home okay?” He asks Felix and Changbin. They nod, and after saying goodbye soon disappear into the darkness as well; Hyunjin is left standing alone on the doorstep, thoroughly winded, and heart a little emptier in the sudden absence of the others.

As he quietly opens the door and slips inside, being sure not to step on any creaky, loose floorboards, Hyunjin thinks about how easy it was to talk to them, especially Felix. How they didn’t make him afraid, didn’t make him feel breakable, flammable,  _ fragile.  _

He thinks, for a split second, about a free boy, racing the train, eyes full of sun as they meet his-

He wonders if he’ll ever see him again.

He wonders if he’ll ever see Changbin and Felix and Minho again.

He wonders if they even want to see him at all. 

Then again, free boys aren’t really meant for boys who can’t figure out how to be free themselves, are they?

Because Hyunjin hasn’t quite spread his wings yet.

He’s too afraid.

_ Coward. _

But it’s much too late for those thoughts, so he shoves them away and focuses on sneaking inside without being caught. Back through the desolate house he creeps, past his aunt’s room (thankfully, she’s still snoring loudly) and into his, where he throws himself down onto his bed and winces when the springs creak under his weight. 

He can see the moon, half full and pale, shining through the window across from his bed; he hadn’t bothered to close the curtain, since it’s just empty countryside out there anyways. 

Hyunjin thinks that maybe, this summer won’t be as lonely as he thought it was going to be. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very short i know jbdhvfh sorry i am just laZY. in other news today we were hanging out just chillin some of the windows were open and suddenly we hear this,, bagpipe music,,?? floating in and we're like what ?? and so we go outside to check it out and there was just this dude next door just plAYINg the BAGPIPES ???? i don't know why ??? he just was??? we clapped for him and it was a great ol time. 
> 
> sorry i promise a more substantial chapter comes next i am just not in the mood to embellish on this one and as i explained it was supposed to be in the last one jbfhdgfbvgvhrjbvfhrj oh weLL k bye <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> skyrim music makes my brain go heehee hoohoo

Hyunjin likes farm life!

Hyunjin doesn’t like being woken up at ass o’clock in the morning by a  _ chicken.  _

Groaning, muscles sore from his long trek in the woods the night before (he wonders whether those cats ever got found) he rolls over in bed, the dewy morning sun falling warm on his cheeks. He can hear the quiet shuffle of his aunt cooking breakfast in the kitchen, and bird calls drift in through the open window. 

He drags himself out of bed, stopping to adjust his hair in the mirror for about half a second before promptly giving up (who’s gonna  _ see  _ him anyways?) and stumbling into the kitchen.

“That chicken’s,” he yawns, “that chicken’s awful loud.” His aunt raises an eyebrow at him as he takes a seat at the table, watching, half-asleep, as she cooks.

“It’s a rooster,” she tells him, “And waking up early is good for you.” He grunts in response. “I’ll give you a tour after breakfast, and  _ then, _ ” she smiles wickedly, “you can start working.” 

“I can start  _ what. _ ”

“We all have chores around here, it doesn’t take all day, don’t  _ worry _ \- besides, Chan always appreciates the help.” She sets down a plate of eggs and bacon in front of him, and Hyunjin is aware of how completely  _ unaware  _ she is of the past night’s adventure, and decides he'd like to keep it that way. “Anyways,” she continues, “I should probably warn you- there’s a couple boys from town that lease the horses, since I barely have time to ride anymore, and I let them use the old outdoor to practice in the summertime. They’re nice boys, you’ll get along well I’m sure, but they might be stopping by to practice later this afternoon and I don’t really know when-”

“You have horses?” Hyunjin blurts out, curiosity overcoming him. “To like, ride and stuff?”

“I do,” she says, cocking an amused eyebrow at his obvious intrigue, “why, are you interested?”

“I dunno, I’ve just never really seen somebody ride before, I guess. What’s it like?” He asks, his thoughts slipping back to the boy he saw yesterday. 

“Indescribable,” she says simply, leaving Hyunjin to wonder. He finishes his breakfast in comfortable silence, gazing out the window at the rest of the farm outside. A hawk circles high above the fields, a mere speck in the sky, drifting peacefully between the clouds. When he finishes, his aunt sweeps up his plate and tosses it in the sink, urging him to get dressed so she can give him a tour of the property.

He's looking forward to it honestly, all sleepiness gone from his demeanor; he only used to come here when he was a little kid, and he doesn’t remember much. There’s something fascinating about the way that life here differs from his own, how the rushing cars and tall buildings are replaced with grazing animals and softly rolling meadows, how city’s noises are exchanged for the quiet, yet still just as busy buzz of the countryside.

Quickly, he grabs the nearest pair of shorts and a t-shirt and throws them on, accepts that his hair is a fluffy mess, and grabs his glasses so that he can  _ see things  _ before dashing back out into the kitchen to meet his aunt, who’s standing by the door with Callie wagging excitedly by her side.

“I figure you can figure this little old house out okay, so we’ll just go around outside,” she explains as they go out; Hyunjin’s hit with a wave of hot, fresh summer air as soon as he steps outside, the kind that’s not too humid or too dry, the kind that makes you feel all giddy because it’s  _ summer.  _ And Hyunjin hasn’t had a summer this free, this full of possibilities, in a long time.

He follows closely behind his aunt as they walk down the long driveway, Callie trotting at his heels. 

“We keep the chickens over there,” she says, pointing to a little wooden coop surrounded by a wire fence; sure enough, Hyunjin can see the chickens inside, feathers golden brown and white and mottled grey. “They used to be free range, but there’s been too many coyotes around lately for it to be safe.”

“Coyotes?” He asks, curious and a little scared. 

“Oh, they’d never come near you, but at night they’re pretty sneaky,” she explains, “I’ve lost a few hens to them. Chan was devastated,” she chuckles, “he gets attached.” Hyunjin has yet to meet this Chan, but he assumes he will soon. “He names them and everything, and I keep telling him  _ not to,  _ but he won’t listen to me. Says it’s a violation of their individuality, he’s unbelievable.” 

“I agree,” Hyunjin says, “the chickens have  _ rights. _ ” His aunt laughs.

“Okay, kid, if you say so.” They walk past the chicken coop and up to the big barn; the doors are open, letting out the slight scent of manure (Hyunjin wrinkles his nose) and the soft sounds of animals just beginning to wake up. 

The interior of the barn, he discovers, is actually really nice, the ceiling high and airy, the wooden walls and stalls made of clean, polished brown wood. As they walk in, a horse pokes its head out from one of the stalls, ears perked in mild interest as they enter.

“That’s Copper. He’s a sweetheart.” The horse shakes its head slightly, as if he heard what she said; Hyunjin stares for a moment, in awe. He’s much bigger up close then he assumed most horses to be. Casually, his aunt strides up to the animal and rubs his nose affectionately; surprisingly, the horse leans into the touch, seemingly enjoying the petting he’s getting. “He’s a bit like my second puppy, on the ground at least- he’s still a little bit of a hothead when you’re on him, but Seungmin does a good job.”

“Seungmin?” Hyunjin asks at the mention of the unfamiliar name.

“The boy that comes over to ride him,” she explains, still stroking the horse’s long nose. “He’s a real talented kid, and he has a certain way with the animals- I’m sure he wouldn’t mind teaching you the basics, actually,” she says thoughtfully. Hyunjin half panics at the thought of having to talk to  _ more  _ unfamiliar people. 

“Couldn’t you teach me?” He asks, shuffling nervously. 

“I mean, I guess I could, but I’m pretty busy during the day,” she says, “and besides, I just want to make sure you have friends your age while you stay here.” She gives him a reassuring smile, and Hyunjin can’t help but smile back and nod in understanding. If there’s anything he doesn’t want to be, it's a nuisance or a bother, so he keeps quiet and instead marvels at the grace of the animal standing before him.

Another horse pokes its head out of the neighboring stall, nosing at his aunt’s shoulder curiously; this one is a deep brown color dappled with white patches, coat gleaming in the sunlight filtering in from outside.

“Oh yeah, and  _ this  _ old girl is Dash,” she laughs quietly, “ She’s about twenty-two, but we’re not entirely sure,” she says, “we rescued her from the back of a shitty old truck along with a bunch of other horses- we think she was on her way to the slaughterhouse.” The mare shakes her head, as if agreeing with the grimness of her story. “But it’s funny, actually,” his aunt continues, “she’s the gentlest thing I’ve ever met. Wouldn’t hurt a fly.” At that moment, Dash’s tail whips across her back, effectively smacking away several flies. “Or maybe  _ some _ flies.”

The thought of anybody hurting something as beautiful and intelligent as a horse sort of makes Hyunjin feel sick- he can’t help but wonder, as he stares into Dash’s eyes,  _ why?  _

“If you want to learn, she’s the one you’ll learn on,” she tells him. She’s about to say something else, but suddenly a loud shout cuts through the otherwise peaceful morning air; when Hyunjin peers out the barn doors, he sees. . . several things at once.

There’s a boy on the ground, and a dog, specifically Callie, on top of him, excitedly wagging and licking his face. There’s another boy standing next to him, struggling to hold not one but  _ two  _ saddles in his arms, and it’s clearly not working. Now, Hyunjin may be shy, but his mother raised him like any good gentleman and so he dashes out to help.

As he draws nearer, the shade of the barn exchanged for the radiant glow of the sun, he recognizes (underneath the saddles) none other than Han Jisung, who, despite being pretty well muscled, was no match for two very large chunks of leather and metal. 

“Oh, hey, Hyunjin!” He says, sighing gratefully when Hyunjin takes a saddle from him; it’s heavier than he expected, and he stumbles for a moment, struggling to get a grip on the unfamiliarly shaped object. Jisung laughs and smiles sunninly at him. “Stick your arm underneath, like this,” he says, demonstrating on the one in his arms. Hyunjin adjusts his grip like he says, and finds it instantly easier.

“Me and Seungmin are here for a quick ride,” he explains, jerking his head at the other boy still buried under a  _ very  _ enthusiastic dog, “honestly, I might just leave him there. What a weirdass.” Jisung quirks an eyebrow at him. Hyunjin muffles a laugh. “Have you ever ridden before? Probably not, considering you can’t even hold a saddle right- do you wanna watch? I promise it’s not  _ super  _ boring, sometimes we make bets on whether Seungmin’ll get bucked off or not-”

“ _ Hey! _ ”

“-well I’m not  _ wrong _ ,” he continues, “Hyunjin, really, stop looking so pitifully at Seungmin, he  _ wants  _ to be on the ground with the dog, he practically  _ is  _ a dog.”

“Yeah, I’m good!” Seungmin pipes up from the ground, sticking up a thumbs up. Hyunjin wonders if everybody around here is so high energy and. . . strange. 

“His family won’t let him have a dog,” Jisung stage whispers as they walk towards the barn, “so he uses everybody else’s as replacements. I promise he’s not as weird as I made him out to be, though.” Once in the shade, Jisung puts his saddle down so it sits on the side of an empty stall, and Hyunjin does the same. His aunt has disappeared, probably gone somewhere else to do. . . farm things, he supposes.

“Here, I’ll show you all the fun horse things that you must do in order to horse, you know?” Hyunjin takes a moment to process that trainwreck of a sentence, and then nods uncertainly; Jisung laughs, a loud, bright sound that startles a sparrow out of its roost in the rafters, and there’s the brief, panicked beating of its wings as it feels the barn.

“ _Any_ ways,” Jisung continues, striding up to a stall and grabbing the rope hung on a hook next to the door, “my favorite fat old lady is _probably_ done with her lunch by now, so I’ll just _slide in,_ ” he says, wiggling his eyebrows comically as he cracks open the stall door and disappears inside. There’s the faint rustle of movement in the hay on the floor, and an undignified, “ _Ow!_ Fucking _hell,_ I didn’t mean it, you’re not fat!” before he slips back out, a slightly miffed-looking horse that Hyunjin now knows is named Dash. She shakes her head, dark mane whipping from side to side, as Jisung leads her out. 

Jisung clips her halter to the ropes hanging from either side of the barn’s aisle and pulls out a box full of brushes, and begins to clean her before he even gets on. “I’m sure you and Dash’ve already been acquainted, but don’t take what just happened in there as a good example of her attitude,” he says, “she’s chill. Just annoyed that I took her away from food.” As Jisung brushes away, quiet footsteps on the floor alert Hyunjin that the other boy, Seungmin, has finally come inside.

“U-uh, hi.” He’s looking down, helmet clasped by the straps and swinging awkwardly in one hand, and the other buried in the hair at the nape of his own neck. “I’m Seungmin?” Hyunjin notices that he’s a lot shyer when he’s not covered in  _ dog,  _ voice quiet (though he can't help but notice that it has a soothing sort of timbre). 

“Stop being so shy, Minnie,” Jisung scoffs from where he’s working knots out of Dash’s tail. Hyunjin waits patiently, a little nervously, for the other boy to look up.

When he does, he nearly falls over.

He’s  _ him-  _ that boy he saw on the train, that beautiful, free boy he saw on his very first day in this new town and longed to see again. So he stands in stunned silence for a moment, as he meets Seungmin’s eyes.

“I’m Hyunjin,” he tells him, and he feels warm inside when Seungmin’s lips quirk up in the smallest of smiles. It’s also now that he remembers that his hair is still a  _ hot mess _ and his glasses are lying crooked on his nose, much to his horror. 

“ _ Ow, _ ” Jisung yelps from across the barn, “my foot, my  _ foot! _ ” Hyunjin and Seungmin break eye contact to look at Jisung, who’s trying and failing to pull his toe out from where it’s trapped effectively beneath Dash’s hoof. 

“Dumbass,” Seungmin mumbles affectionately, walking directly past Jisung and ignoring his plight to open up Copper’s stall and lead him out, clipping him to the ties and starting to do the same as Jisung. Hyunjin doesn’t do much but watch, fascinated, from his place by the door, as Jisung starts to saddle his horse, strapping it on somehow and adjusting a bunch of buckles and Seungmin does something weird with Copper’s hooves. It all makes absolutely no sense to Hyunjin, but Jisung and Seungmin are so calm as they run through what seems to be a well-practiced routine.

It’s silent in the barn besides the rustling of the equipment and the breathing of the horses, and Jisung humming a faint, incoherent song. Hyunjin doesn’t mind it; his gaze drifts over to Seungmin, whose face is set in concentration, his nose scrunched up minisculely as he fiddles with a buckle on Copper’s chin. Belatedly, he realizes that he’s seen Copper before- Seungmin had been riding him when he’d seen him on the train, hadn’t he? Hyunjin wonders if they’ll be just as graceful a pair today. 

“Dori’s doing fine, by the way.” Hyunjin’s eyes snap up from where he’d zoned off on Seungmin- thankfully, Jisung didn’t notice (Hyunjin has a feeling he’d never leave him alone if he knew). 

“Who?” 

“Minho’s kitten,” he supplies, “it was just a few scratches, no infection, blah, blah, blah. Younghyun didn’t get home until like, two in the morning, though,” he adds, laughing, “spent ages looking for the other two. It was super cool of you to help, though.”

“Minho lost his cats again last night?” Seungmin asks, not sounding very surprised. Hyunjin would like to add that he didn’t have much of a choice over whether he could help them or not, but he decides to keep quiet about that for now.

“Yup,” Jisung confirms brightly, “it’s like, the fifth time this year. It’s tradition at this point. Maybe if he remembered to shut his windows he wouldn’t have the problem, but he won’t no matter how many times we remind him.” He shrugs. “Okay, I’m ready to go.”

“Me too,” Seungmin says. Just as he’s about to lead Copper out of the barn, he hesitates, glancing shyly at Hyunjin. 

“Are you uh- are you watching?” 

“I mean,” Hyunjin rushes to respond, “only if, only if you don’t mind, I mean-”

“Of course we don’t mind, it’s fine! Maybe you’ll discover a new passion for picking up horse shit and eating dirt!” Jisung exclaims cheerily. “And, you know, riding or whatever. But those are the two main aspects.”

“True,” Seungmin agrees.

“Um. Very enticing?” Hyunjin is not enticed.

He follows the two of them outside, steering  _ very  _ widely clear of the two horses, and watches as they somehow step effortlessly up into their saddles from the ground. In the sunlight, Copper’s coat is golden, shimmering in the morning sun like- well, like copper. As soon as Seungmin’s seated the horse takes off at a brisk walk, and Hyunjin watches Seungmin steer him in tight circles before following Jisung into the fenced off area next to the barn.

“So basically,” Jisung says, his voice carrying across the paddock, his reins (yes! Hyunjin knows what  _ those  _ are!) held in one hand, the other rested lazily on his thigh as he guides Dash around the perimeter of the fence, “this is what we do. It’s very exciting. Circles and circles around the arena, like a merry-go-round. Now,  _ I  _ do not deal in crazy shit like Seungmin here does,” he adds, “I like to keep my feet on the ground, thanks. So those are for him.” He points to the fences scattered around the arena, set at various heights and angles. 

This comes as a surprise to Hyunjin, mostly because Jisung seems  _ much  _ more inclined to indulge in ‘crazy shit’ than Seungmin, but apparently not. He harkens back to that mental image of Seungmin, galloping across the fields, that free, nearly reckless energy about him evident even through the train windows. Maybe it’s not  _ so  _ surprising, he decides.

Still, he finds himself entranced as he watches Jisung and Seungmin run through their ride, mesmerized by the way the horses move, by the way their muscles ripple and their coats shimmer as the sun reaches its peak. He leans against the fence for longer than he intends to, just watching, observing- it’s just so fascinating, how horse and rider can work in such a fluid way, move in such a collected manner that they almost seem like one being. He decides, very suddenly and firmly, that he wants to try it,  _ needs  _ to. 

Apparently, Jisung was right- he really might have uncovered a newfound passion for “picking up shit and eating dirt” as he put it so eloquently. 

“Hey, Hyunjin!” His aunt’s voice cuts through his thoughts, forcing him to tear his eyes away from the riders. She’s standing in the barn doorway, waving a pitchfork in a slightly terrifying manner.

“Yeah?” he calls back, hesitant to leave his spot.

“You wanna learn how to muck out a stall?”

No, he does not. Whatever that means, it has the word “muck” in it and that’s not a very pretty word at all, in any sense,  _ ever _ . 

But she has a pitchfork, and him? He’s defenseless. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the first very horsey chapter and it sucked but,, oh well,, ! it's currently 1 am again whoops. hyunjin knows next to nothing about horses so i could not use many technical terms so it was just like, "and then they do The Thing" and also i am ceo of not knowing how to end chapters sorry :"). i spent AGES naming the horses like i could not decide, Copper was named Midnight and the Corax (literally i forGOT he was a palomino) and then Lucky before he was Copper, and Dash was like Blue and then Lacey before she was Dash. i was gonna name them after horses i knew but i decided none of th names fit whoopsies.
> 
> NEXT CHAPTER WE MEET CHAN AND HOPEFULLY JEONGIN :D 
> 
> also guise storytime today!! i started volunteering at a therapeutic riding place its super cool and not like other things ive done before and i am so excited! it's so cool and so wholesome! it's also the first time i've been near a horse for a year bc i fell off and got hurt lmao (might give seungmin my injury later on rip)
> 
> anYwAYs sorry this chapter feels rlly sucky and i didnt know how to describe the horsey shit so !! thank u for bearing with me as always !! love you !! have a nice day n drink lots of water and eat food and get a good nights sleep and if you're feeling bad in any way just remember that i personally think you are doing great !! 
> 
> k byEEe until next time <3

**Author's Note:**

> yall gotta yell at me to finish or i literally never will.
> 
> thank u for reading !!


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